ALL PURPOSE FLOUR AND PLAIN FLOUR RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Transfer to a food processor. Cut butter into pats and add to flour, then pulse 5 or 6 times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs. (Alternatively, cut butter into flour in the mixing bowl using a fork or a pastry cutter.) Return dough to bowl, add milk and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball.
• Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat it down into a rough rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat it down again. Repeat. Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
• Gently pat out the dough some more, so that the rectangle is roughly 10 inches by 6 inches. Cut dough into biscuits using a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Do not twist cutter when cutting; this crimps the edges of the biscuit and impedes its rise.
• Place biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Steps:

• If you are making macarons for the first time, I don’t give you a guarantee that you will succeed right away, because they are not easy to make. :)
• Avoid making your macarons on a particularly humid day.
• Cool, dry weather is best.
• Egg whites should be 12-24 hours at room temperature.
• It is better to measure the ingredients using a kitchen scale than from a measuring cup. (Be sure to sift flour and powdered sugar).
• Beat egg whites and sugar with a mixer until you see stiff glossy peaks form. (It took me about 2 minutes, you can beat the egg whites for longer because it depending on the mixer.)
• Do not overbeat egg whites – overbearing the egg whites will introduce more air and create an airy, hollow cookie.
• If you under mix the egg whites macarons will not dry.
• Add the sifted flour and powdered sugar and gently fold the batter until it flows, like lava off the spatula. ( 45-50 complete strokes )
• Do not over mix or mix your batter.
• The over-mixed batter will result in flat discs, unlike light and fluffy cookies.
• Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. (I used #12 plain round tip you can use 1A and 2A too.). When the batter is under-mixed, the piped macaron shells do not flatten out as much and the tips remain.
• Tap the baking sheet on a flat surface 3-5 times, this will get rid of any air bubbles and will prevent cracks.
• If needed, use a toothpick to pop air bubbles and smooth out the shells.
• Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the humidity.
• Place the tray on the middle shelf and bake at 300°F for 13-15 minutes if you have a gas oven, or bake 275°F for 15 minutes in an electric oven.
• In the middle of the baking process macarons, you need to open the oven door once to let off steam, and then close it.
• They are best eaten after 24 hours since the flavors will be absorbed into the shell.